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monday.montag.lundi

happy monday morning!

i only say that because it's now 11:30, and at 11:30, right before morning ceases to be is when it usually turns good for me.

the past week or so i've been absolutely exhausted so i slept in a bit this morning, and have been traipsing around the house and surfing the web all morning. basically i didn't get much of a lazy saturday this past weekend so i'm taking my lazy saturday morning today instead.

i recently discovered amazon's universal wish list and so i've been sifting through some of my favorite sites and making my wish list nice and long.

it's fun for me because i can earmark all those things that i'm in love with, but i don't feel like i need to snatch them all (or any of them) up right away. in my mind it's like i'm saving all of them for later, but all in one place so i won't forget about them...

as i've been playing around with my wish list, and reading the jungle by upton sinclair (more on that later) i've been thinking (again) about the shops and places i frequent. i would much prefer to buy things from shops that want to make things better for their employees, and for the world in general. i also want to patronize one-off shops and small businesses. i know i won't shop at those types of places exclusively, but i can visit the farmer's market to support local farmers, i can support places that are using their businesses as a way to positively impact those around them.

one of the biggest reasons why i love etsy is because i'm supporting artists and small businesses -- people who are incredibly gifted in their craft -- by buying up their beautiful, handmade creations.

there are plenty of online (and brick and mortar) shops that have a conscience.

for instance, jedidiah and shabby apple both give away a portion of every item purchased on their sites, and they exist for the purpose of helping others. TOMS exists to provide shoes for kids in need. when you buy a pair of toms, they give a pair to child in need -- one for one.

these are just a few examples of ways to "do good while you shop." we've been so blessed, and we really don't need anything, but we'd be lying to ourselves if we said we were never going to buy anything. so why wouldn't we buy things from places that exist for the purpose of helping others?

of course you can always write a check, and give your time - both of which are fabulous, BUT i think it needs to go further than that. we need to think about how our everyday actions, and where we spend our money effect people, whether it's the people in our own backyard, or people on the other side of the world.

okay, i'm done with my rant now!

in other news, we had a good, albeit full, weekend. friday night was spent running errands and essentially preparing for the rest of the weekend. saturday we spent the majority of the day in our backyard cleaning out and organizing our storage spaces. we had never actually organized our shed - we just threw a bunch of stuff in there when we moved in - so we went through it all and threw out a lot.

we also cleared out the rest of the brush pile which had been there for quite some time. peter took all the brush to the dump while i carted off a carful of stuff to goodwill. we still have a bunch of "spring-cleaning" type things to do, and we're hoping to tackle a bunch of those in the next few weeks, but the shed/backyard were big ones, and i'm glad they're both done!

in the evening a handful of peter's friends from high school came over, and we grilled out and hung out for the rest of the night. it was nice and low-key.

sunday was spent walking to church, discussing the future, napping, and at youth group. we finished up the night with a quick dinner of chicken ravioli and an episode of arrested development.

today i have a full afternoon of menu planning, grocery shopping, closet cleaning, etc.